Chapter II · (continued 3)

(c) The Artist as Executant

In sculpture and painting we have a work of art presented us as an external and independent result of artistic activity; we do not regard this activity itself as the actual creation of life[472]. It is, however, necessary to the presentation of a musical work of art that we should have an executant musician in co-operation, just as in dramatic poetry we have the representative presence of living manhood as an essential factor in this type of art's realization.

We have, then, reviewed musical composition under the two aspects, that is to say, in so far as it sought to conform with a specific content, or struck out on its own free path of independence. We may now in the same way distinguish between two main types of purely executive art. The one is wholly absorbed in the work of art on hand, and makes no attempt to reproduce anything over and beyond this. The other, on the contrary, is not simply reproductive; it actually creates expression, delivery, in short the essential animation of the work, not merely from the composition as composed, but predominantly from its own resources.

(α) In the case of the epic poem, wherein the poet seeks to unfold an objective world of event and modes of action, the rhapsodist, who recites it, has no occasion to do anything further than wholly withdraw the expression of his own personality in the presence of the exploits and events he brings home to us. The more reserved he is in this respect the better; indeed such recitation is not incompatible with a monotoned and unemphasized delivery. What is effective here is the fact of the poem, the poetical execution, the narrative itself, not its realization in voice and speech. This illustration will suggest to us the rationale for our first type of musical reproduction. In other words, if the composition is in a similar way of a genuine objective quality, in the sense that the composer has simply translated his subject-matter, or the emotion that is absorbed with it, into musical language, the artistic reproduction should retain the same objective character. It is not merely true that here there is no reason for the executant to import into it his idiosyncrasies; by doing so he necessarily impairs the true artistic effect. He must subordinate himself entirely to the character of the work, and prescribe to himself simply this attitude of attention. On the other hand, he must not, as is too frequently the case, confuse such an attitude with that of the purely servile artisan, and lower himself to the level of an organ-grinder. If such execution is to retain any artistic claim the artist is bound to avoid leaving the impression of a musical automaton, which merely repeats its prescribed lesson mechanically, and instead to animate the entire work with the heart and soul of the composer himself. The virtuosity of such a vital reproduction is restricted, however, to the just elucidation of the technical difficulties presented by the work, and in doing so the object will be not merely to cover any appearance of triumph over an exacting task, but to portray the freest movement under such conditions, and, in so far as superior artistic endowment and experience can in the particular case manage to do so, attain in the reproduction to the spiritual altitude of the composer and reflect the same in actual performance.

(β) It is another matter when we come to deal with works of art, in which personal idiosyncrasy and caprice are even by the composer himself features brought into prominence, and where generally we find the traces of such a clearly objective quality in expression, the treatment of the harmonic or characteristic development less pronounced. In such a case the bravura of virtuosity is, it is our first distinction, quite admissible; and over and above this executive ability is not only limited to the reproduction of the actual score, but may considerably amplify; an artist will himself add to the composition in his delivery, supplement defects, add substance to what is comparatively superficial, import into parts a new life, and in doing so assert independent judgment and invention. In the Italian opera, for example, much is always left to the singer's discretion; in particular where we have embellishments a more liberal opportunity of display is granted, and in so far as the exposition of sound is further removed from the mere interpretation of the libretto, the execution in its independence becomes a more spontaneous flow of melody, in which the soul of the singer is permitted to enjoy itself and exult in its own free rapture. When therefore it is objected that Rossini for one has made the singer's task too easy, the stricture is only in part justified. The difficulty is none the less there, only he frequently leaves it to the trained intelligence of the executant to work it out for himself. If in the result we are conscious of the co-operation of genius, the work as thus reproduced makes an exceptionally favourable impression. We have not merely a work of art reproduced, but we are conscious at the same time of actual musical creation. In this very present realization of life the external conditions of artistic reproduction disappear, such as place, opportunity, the local associations of a divine service, the content and intent of a dramatical situation; we have no further need for, nor do we desire any text, we have left us simply the unspecialized impulse of emotion, in the element of which the soul of the artist can surrender itself without let or hindrance to its own rapture, displaying thereby inventive genius, the finest qualities of emotion, and a mastery of technique; and in fact, provided we find the right spirit, ability, and personal charm to justify it, it may venture to interrupt the flow of melody itself with humour, caprice and virtuosity, and accept for once the moods and suggestions of the moment.

(γ) This kind of virtuosity is yet more remarkable in cases where the instrument is not the human voice, but one of human invention. By this I mean to say that such naturally in the kind of sound they produce are further removed from the soul's direct expression; they are in relation to that of an external object, apiece of dead mechanism, and music is essentially a spiritual movement and activity. When we find, therefore, this externality of the instrument vanishes altogether, in the case, that is, where the music of the soul breaks right through this alien crust of mechanism, by means of such virtuosity, even an instrument of this character is transformed into one as fully adapted to express the soul of the artist as it is possible to conceive. Among the memories of my youth I can still recall the case of an astonishing executant on the guitar, who in his own eccentric fashion had composed huge battle-pieces for this comparatively insignificant instrument. By profession, if I remember rightly, he was a weaver, and in conversation he had little enough to say for himself. But no sooner did he begin to play than one wholly forgot the absurd pretensions of his composition, forgot these precisely as he forgot all else but the music, and the marvellous result he made of it by being totally absorbed body and soul in his instrument, entirely witless of any form of nobler execution than that expressed in the tones of a guitar[473].

A virtuosity of this type, in so far as it asserts such a unique superiority, is not only a proof of extraordinary mastery over material forces, but we receive from it as it strides victoriously over difficulties apparently unplayable, even turns aside to add to them, or in wayward mood breaks in upon us jestingly with I know not what interruptions and surprises, and by original invention even makes us enjoy what would otherwise be vulgar, is a direct reflection of absolutely free soul-life[474]. It is quite true that a mere charlatan[475] of this type is unable to produce original works of art; but where real genius is part of the endowment we can have extraordinary mastery in composition no less than over a particular instrument, the limitations of which this virtuosity lays itself out to overcome, and in audacious vindication of its triumph will reproduce the artistic effects of other instruments entirely remote in other hands from its own. It is an accomplishment of this kind which delights us with our acutest sense of the life of music. And this riddle of riddles we discover in the fact that a mere piece of mechanical craft can become an instrument one with our life, which enables us to follow, as through a flash of lightning, a power of ideal conception no less than execution, by virtue of which the imagination of genius penetrates to the core of life as instantaneously as it vanishes therefrom.

Such, then, are the most essential features, which I have selected from my own experience of music, the more general points of view which I have detached from the subject and concentrated attention upon in the present discussion.

END OF VOL. III

INDEX Accompaniment, Music as, iii, 377-379, 413-418; of human voice, iii, 383. Aeschylus, reference to the "Agamemnon," i, 285; to the "Eumenides," i, 302, 303, 372; ii, 213-215, 223; iv, 306, 324; to the "Coephorae," and the "Seven before Thebes," iv, 318; change of scene in his dramas, iv, 257; universal powers in dramas, i, 377; char acter of Clytemnaestra, ii, 345. Aesop, Fables of, ii, 115. Anacreon, odes of, iv, 203, 233. Aphrodite, description of, iii, 185. Architecture, types of classical, iii, 80-90; Roman, iii, 87-88; Gothic, iii, 91-104; Byzantine, iii, 105. Aristophanes, subject-matter of his comedies, iv, 277, 283, 304, 329; himself an actor, iv, 286; his "Ecclesiazusae," iv, 303. Aristotle, reference to the "Poetics," i, 19; on tragedy, i, 283; on use of simile, ii, 143; proper subject of tragedy, iv, 131; on unities of time and place, iv, 256. Artist, as executant, iii, 426-430. Athene, nature of as goddess of Athens, iv, 325. Bach, J. S., supreme master of ecclesiastical music, iii, 419. Beethoven, L. van, soul-release in art's freedom, iii, 349; symphonies of, iii, 355 n. Bosanquet, B., references to translation of Hegel's Introduction by in present translator's notes, i, 28, 29, 31, 32, 37, 40, 45, 52, 65, 66, 68, 69, 71, 73, 76, 88, 93, 96, 100, 108, 109, 116, 181. Bradley, A. C., reference to Lectures on Poetry, i, 265 n. Bradley, F. H., i, 73, 96 n. Brahman, supreme godhead in Hindu theosophy, ii, 50-61, 91. Calderon, quotation from, ii, 142; comparisons of, ii, 149. Camoens, the "Lysiad" of, iv, 190. Cervantes, type of comedy in "Don Quixote," i, 262; ii, 374; dissolution of chivalry as depicted by Cervantes and Ariosto, ii, 373. Chivalry, general description of, iv, 185-187. Chorus, Greek, nature of, iv, 315-317. Cid, the Spanish poem of the, description of, iv, 182; heroic personality of the, ii, 348; iv, 138-140; nature of collision in, i, 321. Columns, Greek, iii, 69-76; orders of, iii, 82-85; on the Greek temple generally, iii, 79. Creutzer, his work on symbolism, iii, 17, 18; affinity of Egyptian and Hellenic art on coins, iii, 203. See also ii, 138; iii, 39, 41. Cuvier, analytical power of, i, 176. Dante, conciseness of, i, 350; allegory in, ii, 19; on the love of Beatrice, iii, 340; description of the damned, iii, 319; the "Divine Comedy" contrasted with "Æneid" and "Odyssey" as epical narrative, iv, 163; general description of "Divine Comedy," iv, 184. Denner, realistic portraits of, iii, 270. Destiny, supreme significance of in Epos, iv, 144; fate in tragedy, iv, 312, 322; as necessity, iv, 254. See also particularly as to Greek art, ii, 261-264. Drapery. See under Sculpture. Dutch School, description of, i, 228-230; ii, 382-386; iii, 334-337; landscape in art of, i, 397; colouring of, iii, 276. Einbildungskraft, meaning of as distinct from Phantasie and Vorstellung, i, 55 n., 62 n., 381 n. Euripides, the "Alcestis" of, i, 275; treatment of love in the Phedra, iii, 340; transition of drama of to sentimental pathos, iv, 321. Eyck, H. van, supreme concep tion of God the Father, iii, 252; his picture of the Madonna, iii, 255; his "Adoration," iii, 262; description of brothers Hubert and John, iii, 330. Ferdusi, "Shahrameh" of, i, 251, 277. Fichte, his position in history of Aesthetic Philosophy, i, 89-91. Flesh-colour, nature of, in painting, iii, 285. Giotto, reforms of, in painting, iii, 322. Goethe, definition of the beautiful by, i, 21, 36-38, 91; reference to his "Iphigeneia," i, 262, 304-306, 373; iv, 307; to "Faust," iv, 333; to his Tasso, iv, 307; to "Hermann and Dorothea," i, 256, 353; to "Werther," i, 271, 321; to the "Bride of Corinth," ii, 270; to the "Westöstlicher Divan," i, 372; ii, 96, 400; iv, 233; to "Dichtung und Wahrheit," iii, 289; to the "King of Thule," ii, 363; his "Mignon," iii, 298; his theory of colour, i, 117 n.; on the innate reason of nature, i, 179; Goethe on Hamlet, i, 307; ii, 364; his pathos contrasted with that of Schiller, i, 313; rivalry of with Shakespeare, iv, 338; quotation from Goetz von Berlichengen, i, 366; the ripeness of his maturity, i, 384; on Gothic architecture, iii, 76; Xenien of, ii, 145; on harmonious colouring, iii, 283; supreme quality of folk-songs of, 386; songs of comradeship, iv, 205; prose in his dramas, iv, 71; imitation of Icelandic, iv, 208; as a Lyric poet generally, iv, 217. Greek art, origin of in freedom, ii, 183; content of, ii, 184-186; Gods of, ii, 224-228; iii, 183-186, 188; absence of the sublime in, ii, 237; incapable of repetition, iii, 396; Greek epigrams, ii, 398; character of dramatis personae in Greek art, iv, 317-320. Greek chorus. See under Chorus. Greek mysteries. See under Mysteries. Greek oracles. See under Oracles, Hafis, Lyrics of, iv, 237; quotation from, ii, 94, 95, 147. Helmholtz, researches of in music, iii, 390 n. Herder, his conception of Folkslied, i, 364. Herodotus, statement of as to Homer and Hesiod, ii, 190, 231; his account of temple of Belus, iii, 37; date of his history's commencement, iv, 39; on battle of Thermopylae, iv, 23; as general authority for Egyptian history and art, see vol. iii, ch. i. Hesiod, mythology of, ii, 63, 64, 167, 216; reference to his "Works and Days," iv, 108. Hindoos, architecture of, iii, 48-51; religion of, ii, 47-64. Hippel, humour of his "Life's Careers," ii, 365. Hirt, connoisseur, his emphasis on the characteristic, i, 22-24; on origins of architecture, iii, 27; on Memnons, iii, 41; on the original materials of building, iii, 66. Homer, vividness of his characterization, i, 225, 235; the heroes of, i, 250; starting-point of Iliad in wrath of Achilles, i, 290; iv, 30, 156, 167; hero as focus of many traits, i, 316; landscape in, i, 341; iv, 123, 154; type of society in Iliad, i, 352, 377; whether personal experience of poet, i, 357; iv, 122; his use of simile, ii, 154; quotations from the Iliad, ii, 154, 155; sacrifices in the Iliad, ii, 192; unity of Homeric god-world, ii, 219; human motives defined through god's action, ii, 234, 235; freedom of Greek gods in, ii, 239; individuality of gods in, ii, 242-258; poet later than the Trojan war, iv, 124. Horace, Ars Poetica of, i, 19, 69; artificial character of his Odes, iv, 229. Iffland, reference to, iv, 290, 344; superficial quality of, ii, 381. Immortality, contrast of conception in Pagan and Christian thought, ii, 287-290. Irony, the views of Schlegel, Solger and Tieck on, i, 90-94; iv, 271. Jacobi, the "Woldemar" of, i, 322. Kant, Immanuel, relation of his philosophy to Philosophy of Aesthetik, i, 78-84, 149, 154 n.; on the sublime, iii, 86, 87. Klopstock, his rank as an Epic poet, iv, 150-152; his personality, iv, 216, 244, 245; partly artificial enthusiasm, iv, 229. Kotzebue, popular effects of, i, 362; superficial rapidity of, ii, 381; bad composition of, iv, 290; ethical baseness of, iv, 304. Landscape gardening, i, 332-333 Laocoon, statue group, iii, 191. Lessing, his introduction of prose into drama, iv, 71; didactic drama of, iv, 277. Libretto, nature of good, iii, 355-357. Light, the nature of as an element, ii, 225-226. Longinus, his Essay on the Sublime, i, 19. Lötze, See i, 82 n. Luther. See ii, 13. Memnons, iii, 41-43. Meredith, George, i, 36 n., 216 n.; ii, 339 n.; iv, 347 n. Michelangelo, his power to depict devils, iii, 307. See also, i, 224 n.; iii, 27 n. Molière, character of comedies of, iv, 345-347. Mozart, example of precocity, i, 37 n.; symphonies of, iii, 385; Libretto of his "Magic Flute," iii, 415; just mean of splendour in opera, iv, 291. Mysteries, Greek, ii, 221. Natural, the natural in art as distinct from the barbarous or childish, iii, 6-8; natural diction in Lessing, Goethe and Schiller, iv, 265-267. Oracles, Greek, ii, 205-208. Originality, nature of in art, i, 394-405. Ossian, character of his heroes, i, 343; similes of, ii, 151, 153; authorship of, iv, 146, 180. See also iv, 114, 127. Ovid, Metamorphoses of, ii, 126; similes of, ii, 152, 198. Pathos, nature of, i, 308-325; pathos of drama, iv, 265; that of Goethe and Schiller compared, i, 313. Pheidias, school of, i, 235; materials used by, iii, 199; the plastic ideal of, iii, 133; Elgin marbles, iii, 138; the "Zeus" of, iii, 117, 184. Pindar, Odes of as occasional, i, 271; his odes compared with elegies of Callinus and Tyrtaeus, iv, 201; Pythian priestess on his merit, iv, 216; enthusiasm of, iv, 229; his creative gift, iv, 241. Plastic, personality, of Greeks, as Pericles, Pheidias and Sophocles, iii, 133. Plato, relation of his philosophy to the universal concept or notion, i, 27, 28, 197; his relation to art generally, i, 141; citation from, i, 210; his use of simile, ii. 143. Portraiture, in painting, iii, 307-311. Praxiteles, iii, 190. Prometheus, ii, 209-215. Psalms, Hebrew, general character of, i, 378; illustrate the sublime, ii, 102-104; iv, 226-228. Pyramids, the, iii, 55. Racine, the "Esther" of, i, 361; his Phèdre, i, 321. Ramajana, the, episodes from, ii, 51-53, 61. See also iv, 110, 112, 165, 175. Raphael, general references to, i, 37, 212, 380, 385; possesses "great" manner with Homer and Shakespeare, i, 405; his Madonna pictures, iii, 227; cartoons of, iii, 242; mythological subjects, iii, 245; his "Sistine Madonna," iii, 255, 262, 304; his "School of Athens," iii, 254; vitality of drawings of, iii, 275; perfection of technique, iii, 328; translator's criticism on extreme praise of Raphael and Correggio, iii, 329 n. Reni, Guido, sentimental mannerisms of, iii, 264. Richter, J. P., Kaleidoscopic effects of, i, 402; sentimentalism of, ii, 365; humour of compared with Sterne's, ii, 387. Rösel, Author of "Diversions of Insect life," i, 59. Rumohr, von, Author on Aesthetic Philosophy, i, 148, 232; on style, i, 399; on Italian painters and in particular, Duccio, Cimabue, Giotto, Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Perugino, Raphael and Correggio, iii, 316-330. Ruskin, J., i, 62 n., 72 n., 230 n. Sachs, Hans, religious familiarity of, i, 359. Satire, in Plautus and Terence, ii, 277; iv, 305; in Sallust and Tacitus, ii, 278; not successful in modern times, ii, 279; belongs to third type after tragic and comic drama, iv, 305. Schelling, Art Philosophy of, iii, 23 n. Schiller, rawness of early work, iii, 38; his "Letters on Aesthetic," i, 84-86; quotation from, i, 214; reference to "Braut von Messina," i, 258; to "Kabale und Liebe," i, 261; iv, 333; to Wallenstein," iv, 288; to the "Maid of Orleans," i, 261; iv, 291, 339; extreme scenic effect of the latter drama, iv, 291; narrative too epical in same drama, iv, 161; reference to "Wilhelm Tell," i, 379; pathos of Schiller, i, 394; his use of metaphor, ii, 144; attitude to Christianity, ii, 268; profundity of, iii, 414; character of his songs, iv, 207, 239; his criticism of Goethe's Iphigeneia, iv, 275; leaves much to actor, iv, 288. Schlegel, F. von, Aesthetic theory of, i, 87-89; art as allegory, ii, 134; statement of, that architecture is frozen music, iii, 65. Sculpture, drapery of, iii, 165-171; materials of, iii, 195-201; Egyptian, iii, 203-210; Etruscan, iii, 211; Christian, iii, 213; the Laocoon group, iii, 178-191; soul-suffering of, iii, 256. Shakespeare, William, materials of his dramas, i, 255, 324; reference to drama "Macbeth," i, 277; to Lady Macbeth, i, 324; to witches of "Macbeth," i, 307; ii, 366; to "Macbeth," iv, 337, 341; to "Hamlet," ii, 378; iv, 334, 342; to "Othello," iv, 337; to "Falstaff," ii, 375; to tragedy of "Othello," i, 283; to "King Lear," i, 296; to "Romeo and Juliet," i, 319; iv, 342; to "Richard III," iv, 341; the clowns of, i, 320; the fool in "King Lear," ii, 375; quotations from "Richard II," ii, 141, 159; from "Romeo and Juliet," ii, 153; from "Henry IV," ii, 158; from "Henry VIII," ii, 159, 160; from "Julius Caesar," ii, 260; from "Macbeth," ii, 160; from "Anthony and Cleopatra," ii, 161; mythical material of dramas, i, 351 n.; his historical dramas, i, 374; his use of metaphor, ii, 144, 156; the fidelity of Kent in "King Lear," ii, 346; self-consistency of characters, ii, 356-358; iv, 340; intelligence of vulgar characters, ii, 366, 375; subsidiary interest of part of material in dramas, iv, 260; vitality of characterization, iv, 274, and in particular, iv, 337; superiority in modern comedy, iv, 348. Sophocles, reference to the "Philoctetes," i, 275, 301; iv, 306; to "Œdipus Rex," i, 276; iv, 319; to the "Antigone," i, 293; ii, 215; iv, 318; to "Œdipus Coloneus," ii, 503; iv, 319; to the "Electra," iv, 318; the choruses of, i, 371; no unity of place in the "Ajax," iv, 257; quotation from "Œdipus Coloneus," ii, 222; treatment of love in the "Antigone," ii, 339; praise of the "Antigone" as work of art, iv, 324; the "Œdipus Coloneus" as a drama of reconciliation, iv, 325. Style, significant of vitality, iii, 9; the beautiful style, iii, 10; the great style, ii, 400; educated style of Roman poetry, iii, 11. Tasso, his "Jerusalem Liberated," iv, 141. See also iv, 132, 149, 159, 189, and for Goethe's play under head of Goethe. Thorwaldsen, the "Mercury" of, i, 270. Tieck, novels of, ii, 167; and for both Tieck and Solger under "Irony." Van-Dyck, the portraiture of described, iii, 292. Velasquez, reference to Turner and Velasquez, i, 336 n. See also iii, 337 n. Vergil, artifice of V. and Horace, iv, 69; eclogues of compared with idylls of Theocritus, iv, 170. The "Æneid" as a national Epos, iv, 179. Versification, rhythmical of ancients discussed, iv, 81-84. That of rhyme compared, iv, 84-98. Vishnu, the Conserver of Life in Hindoo theosophy, iii, 52; second Deity in triune Trimûrtis with Brahman and Sivas, ii, 59. Voltaire, contrasted with Shakespeare, i, 313; his "Henriad," iv, 132; his "Tancred" and "Mahomet," iv, 290. Watts, George, R.A., flesh colour of, i, 337 n.; relation to symbolism, ii, 27 n. Weber, his "Oberon" and "Freischütz," i, 216. Winckelmann, on Greek sculpture, iii, 138, 150-155, 172-176, 182, 184; on Greek coins, iii, 181. Zend-Avesta, light-doctrine of, ii, 37-44; cultus of, ii, 44.